Pleating strips



June 14, 1955 B, P. soLoMoN PLEATING STRIPS FILLLIIII nited States Patent O PLEATING STRIPS Bert P. Solomon, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Pleatmaster, Inc., Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michlgan Application April 26, 1952, Serial No. 284,499

2 Claims. (Cl. 160-348) U. S. patent to Carr, 834,188, of October 23, 1906, discloses a known form of pleating strip and a three finger pleating device. U. S. patent to Solomon, 2,558,467, of June 26, 195i, discloses a later form of pleating device, having four fingers.

This application discloses an improved form of pleating strip particularly adapted for the Solomon patent device as well as other four finger pleating devices.

Embodiments of my improved pleating strip are disclosed in the appended drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a fragmentary view of a drape with such improved pleating strip in place and with parts cut away for purposes of clarity.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section line as if on the broken line 2 2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 shows in transverse section the formation and disposition of the four fingers of a pleating device when a double pinch pleat is formed with my improved pleating strip.

Fig. 4 is an elevation view of the parts when formed in the double pinch pleat of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section as if on line 5-5 of Fig. l.

Referring now to the drawing, it will be seen that it shows a drape 2 at whose upper end is a pleating strip comprising a front part 3 folded down and forwardly at the upper edge of the drape from a back part 4. A stitch line S secures all four edges of the back part 4 and the top and two side edges of the front part 3 to the drape, leaving the lower edge 6 of the front part, well above the lower edge 7 of the back part, free and open.

A stitch line 8 secures the front part and back part together. Such stitch line has spaced pairs of vertical portions 8V stitched through both parts with the intrapair spacing being considerably less than the interpair spacing, and short horizontal intrapair portions 8W stitched through both parts and connecting the upper ends of the vertical portions of a pair and long horizontal interpair portions of 8X stitched through the back part only, below the lower edge 6 of the front part, and connecting the lower ends of the adjacent pairs of the vertical portions 8V, leaving all of the lower edge 6 of the front part free of the back part except where tacked down at intervals by the vertical portions SV to provide a continuous uninterrupted series of narrow and wide, open bottom loops or tunnels or pockets 9A and 9B.

The pleating device shown includes three pieces of wire referenced 10, 11, and 12 which are formed as shown and soldered together by solder at base 14 to form a unitary pleater exactly according to the Solomon Patent 2,558,467. Each of the four fingers 15 is of single thickness wire. Wire 12 is bent to provide a hook 17 well below the upper ends of the fingers. The wires are of springy material so that the fingers which are long tend to retain their predetermined shape and spacing as shown in Fig. l and to return thereto if sprung.

The fingers come together at their lower ends or base 14 where they are curved inwardly to be closer together 2,710,653 Patented June 14, 1955 than at their upper ends for pinching pleats together at the lower ends of the tunnels 9A of the pocket strip. The wire of the pleater is such that the fingers have sufficient resilience to be moved manually and easily towards or away from one another to facilitate insertion of the fingers into the tunnels individually or in groups and to enable the intermediate fingers 11 to be squeezed manually towards and closely adjacent the outermost fingers 10 for a considerable distance to enter tunnels in pairs but these fingers have an inherent tendency to return to their original spacing after being manually squeezed together or spread apart. The fingers are made from U-shaped pieces of wire nested and co-planar and joined by the lower end of the hook l2 welded thereto to form a unitary device.

The wide pockets 9B are novel features of the pocket strip hereof. Their use will now be described.

One use is as follows. When the pleater is used for double pinch pleats as shown in Fig. 3, only three of the four fingers are used in the three narrow pockets 9A. A fourth finger is left over. This fourth finger can be tucked into an adjacent wide pocket 9B and thus not be exposed and unsightly and mar or scrape the traverse rod upon which the drape is hung by the hook 17.

Another use for the wide pocket part is this. When it is desired to provide a supporting hook at the extreme vertical edge of a drape or as near to it as possible, a pleater device may be inserted into the narrow and wide pockets at such edge of the drape with two of the ngers in the narrow pocket 9A and the other two received in a wide pocket 9B as shown at the left side of Fig. l. With all four lingers received in pockets, adequate support will be provided for the hooks 17', something that would not be the case if only two of the fingers were in a narrow pocket and the other two were not enclosed in any pocket, as for example, as would be the case if stitch lines 8X were above edge 6 of front part 3 and closed the pockets 9B.

Now having described the pleating strip hereof, refen ence should be had to the claims which follow.

I claim:

l. A pleating strip having a back part and a front part folded forwardly and downwardly therefrom with the back part having its lower horizontal edge lower than that of the front part and with the back part adapted to lie against and be stitched to the drape, and a continuous stitch line securing the two parts together and forming a series of contiguous vertical open bottom narrow and wide pockets between the two parts, such continuous stitch line including spaced pairs of vertical stitch lines stitched through both parts, with the intrapair spacing being con` siderably less than the interpair spacing, and short horizontal intrapair stitch lines stitched through both parts and connecting the upper ends of the vertical stitch lines of a pair, and long horizontal interpair stitch lines located below the lower edge of the front part and stitched through the back part only and connecting lower ends of adjacent pairs of vertical stitch lines, leaving all of the lower edge of the front part free of the back part except where tacked down at intervals by the vertical stitch lines, to provide said series of contiguous alternate narrow and wide open bottom pockets.

2. A pleating strip having a back part and a front part folded forwardly and downwardly therefrom with the back part having its lower horizontal edge lower than that of the front part and with the back part adapted to lie against and be stitched to the drape, and a continuous stitch line securing the two parts together and forming a series of contiguous vertical open bottom pockets between the two parts, such continuous stitch line including spaced palrs of vertical stitch lines stitched through both parts, and horizontal intrapair stitch lines stitched through both parts and connecting the upper ends of the vertical stitch lines of a pair, and horizontal inter-pair stitch lines located below the lower edge of the front part and stitched through the back part only, and connecting lower ends of adjacent pairs of vertical stitch lines, leaving all of the lower edge of the front part free of the back part except where tacked down at intervals by the vertical stitch lines, to provide said series of contiguous open bottom pockets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,863,638 Richter June 21, 1932 4 Steiner Aug. 27, 1935 French Dec. 12, 1939 Hess Oct. 24, 1950 Hess Apr. 10, 1951 Solomon June 26, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Canada June 26, 1951 

